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The Best Butter Tarts in Toronto

The best butter tarts in Toronto are sugary-sweet concoctions that double as national badges of honour. The pastry is one of the only recipes of truly Canadian origin; though its buttery sweetness is vaguely reminiscent of tarte au sucre, pecan pie, shoofly pie or the treacle tart, the butter tart is characteristically 'runnier'.

Each butter tart is made with butter, sugar, syrup and egg baked into a small tart shell until barely firm. However, recipes change from family to family, place to place, with contentious additions of raisins or nuts, or altered entirely to be made gluten-free or vegan. Any way they're made, there's something special about them - like a sudden rush of sugar to the back of your teeth - that signals to you that you've bitten into a Canadian classic, and you know you are home.

Andrea, of Andrea's Gerrard St. Bakery, uses her grandmother's recipe to make the finest butter tarts ($3.15 each) in Toronto. The sweet caramel crunch of the butter filling and crust is to die for. More »

Rich, sweet and caramel-y with a nice dense crust, the butter tart at Rosanne Pezzelli's bakery Bakerbots has a dedicated fan base - much like the shop itself. Their tarts ($2) come with or without chocolate. More »

St. Clair's sweet tooths have Leah's to thank for the neighbourhood's most satisfying butter tarts ($2.75). The rich, buttery filling features deep, browned sugars sitting nicely in a thin pastry shell. More »

Another gluten- and dairy-free butter tart winner can be found at Tori's Bakeshop in the Beach ($2.25). Their crust is made of primarily garbanzo bean flour with some rice and tapioca and xanthan gum, and a filling of cane sugar, maple syrup coconut milk, pecans and currants. You won't believe it's not butter. More »

Called 'Abbey's butter tarts', they are cupped to look like flowers - but I think they are reminiscent of the maple leaf, and they taste just as Canadian. The made-from-scratch tarts sell for $2.93 each, or a half-dozen for $15. (Did I mention they also come in a bacon version?) More »

It is not surprising that a veritable community institution like Future Bakery - with locations in the Annex and St. Lawrence Market - makes butter tarts ($1.25) the way grandma used to. Their version includes a pale shortbread crust and a gelatinous and sweet butter filling studded with pecans. More »

The butter tarts at Phipps ($2.50) are not for the faint of heart. The crust is heavy and buttery, the filling is more of the same (plus sugar) and then they go and drizzle caramel on the top. POW! You've got your sugar intake for weeks. More »

You'll have to make it out to Etobicoke for San Remo Bakery's butter tarts ($1.50). Featuring a tender pastry filled with buttery gooey-ness and a liberal application of raisins, they are definitely worth the trip for downtowners, and a lucky bonus for those in the 'burbs. More »

Owned by chef Brad Long, this picturesque spot in the Evergreen Brick Works does lunch, dinner and brunch - but lest you think their butter tarts ($4) would get lost on the menu, their gooey, sweet tarts have aficionados raving. More »

Discussion

27 Comments

Andrea's are toothsome and near perfect, but missing is a place maybe only known to upper-beachers:
Grumbel's Deli on Main just S of Danforth. Their BTs are quite unbelievable. The place is stuck in the 60s. so it's worth a visit for lunch too.

You are also missing Seraphia's in Cliffcrest! (2979 Kingston Road, Scarborough). Hands down the best butter tarts I've ever eaten!! The tart pastries are nice and deep, and the filling is always the perfect degree of runny!

The general consensus amongst the experts on Chowhound is that Maid's Cottage in Newmarket is the best. They are indeed worth the drive.
You can also get them at the Thornhill Farmers Market on Yonge St.

I am not a runny butter tart fan, and 'gelatinous' does not have to mean made with gelatin. I use a recipe in an old book called "For the Love of Baking" that includes an egg in the filling and it is really nice.

Agreed. I use eggs when I make my own they are more "set" than runny. You can play with the runniness by adding more or less corn syrup or using fewer eggs (in a large batch). It's the same recipe my grandmother used and is a family favourite.

Ok, I want you all to listen up, and listen good. I like to consider myself something of a buttertart afficianado. There aren't too many things I truly love in this world, but buttertarts are one of them. I love them, I dream about them, they are absolutely spectacular. I love them plain, with raisins, with pecans.

When I bake my own, I throw in some skor bits, try it, it will change your life. I went to Niagara on the Lake two years ago, and instead of doing a wine tour, my gf and I did a buttertart tour. We tried a buttertart in each and every bakery there. Chocolate on a buttertart is not that great. So I know what I'm talking about.

This list is definitely flawed. I understand the creator of the blog couldn't possibly try each buttertart the city has to offer, but there are a few missing. A couple of you mentioned above the buttertarts at Bannock. You are right, they definitely should be on the list, they're spectacular. They should be at #3. When I read this blog, I went right out to Andrea's bakery and cleaned them out of buttertarts, there were 7 left and I bought them all, and they are also fu*%ing amazing, they belong on the list, #4. #2 spot belongs to a little cafe named Crema. The same company used to bake the buttertarts for Crema and Red Rocket coffee shops. Now you can only find them at Crema. There is a Crema at Bloor/Church area, south side of Bloor. The tarts are so deep, and filled with so much gooey deliciousness, my goodness. The number 1 buttertart in the city can be found at a little food shop called 'All the Best' fine foods. Two locations, church/wellesley, and in Rosedale. These tarts are true works of art. They are square instead of round. You can either get raisin, pecan, or Jamieson Irish Whisky. The crust is coated in some sort of sugary toffee substance, gzus murphy, orgasmic orgasmic orgasmic. Perfcet degree of runniness. If just one person reads this and goes to try one of them, this all will have been worthwhile. And by the way, the vegan tarts on the original blog SUCK, they have no place amongst these precious concoctions.

I totally agree with David. All The Best Fine Foods has THE BEST butter tarts. I work there and am able to eat their food all the time, often for free... For the sake of my waistline, I've learned to avoid most of their incredible sweet treats but these butter tarts continue to be a major source of temptation. The are completely irresistible.